BOLTON boss Sam Allardyce is hoping the fear factor will turn his nearly men into winners when they take on crisis club, Leeds, at the Reebok Stadium.

Allardyce believes it could help his players kick the habit of giving away disastrous late goals.

In each of their last two home games, against Chelsea and Blackburn, Allardyce has watched his side perform well to earn slender leads, only to throw away the chance for victory by conceding injury-time equalisers.

"Those games have left doubts with everybody, the fans, the staff and the players," said Allardyce.

'Still confident'

"If doubt now turns to fear, maybe the players will make sure they concentrate in the final few minutes and we will collect the all-important victory we are looking for.

"We must stop disappointing ourselves. That's what has happened in the last two home games and we can't keep hammering ourselves into the ground like this. After winning at Leeds last month, we could so easily have gone on to make it three Premiership wins in four games and we would have been looking at this match in a completely different light. But we missed out through our own mistakes.

"Yes, we are still very confident and we are playing well - but it should have been nine points out of 12 instead of five.

"And, if we had put together a run like that, we wouldn't be talking about getting out of the bottom three. We would already be in mid-table and the doubts everyone has would have disappeared."

Allardyce admits the manner in which his side have been conceding goals creates even more frustration as he seeks to steer Bolton away from the relegation zone.

He added: "It's extremely disappointing. I always say that if the other side create a brilliant goal, or a player comes up with a superb individual effort, I will hold my hands up.

'Catalogue of errors'

"Sometimes you can't avoid conceding a goal to individual brilliance. Unfortunately, though, we could have stopped nearly all of the goals we have given away.

"We have looked at the way we have conceded goals either straight after we have scored, or in the final minutes of a game, and they have all been very similar.

"We have needed someone within the unit to be in the right position at the right time and do their job correctly. It has been a catalogue of small errors that have accumulated and allowed the opposition to score.

"We have looked through the videos and pinpointed where things have gone wrong. It's down to us to put it right."

Allardyce will have to juggle his midfield options, with Kevin Nolan suspended and Paul Warhurst and Ricardo Gardner set to miss out due to hamstring strains.

Troubled Leeds are without Harry Kewell, while Mark Viduka is also likely to miss-out through injury. With Michael Bridges suffering from another long term problem and Alan Smith suspended, Robbie Fowler could lead the line on his own in front of a packed midfield.